The Palworld Side by Side update is official. On October 20, 2026, Pocketpair confirmed that the next major Palworld update is called "Palworld: Side by Side" and that it arrives in Winter 2026. The announcement came bundled with the results of the Global Popularity Poll 2026, where Sekhmet and Zoe took the top spots. Pocketpair has not shared a release date or a feature list yet, so this post sticks to what is confirmed, what the timing history suggests, and what you can do on your server right now.
What Is the Palworld Side by Side Update?
Right now, Side by Side is a name, a season and a teaser image. The key art shows three glowing silhouettes standing behind the Palworld logo, with "Winter 2026" underneath. Pocketpair's post simply says "stay tuned for more info coming soon."
The silhouettes are where the speculation starts. Several outlets read them as Zoe, Auri and Saya, the three characters who just topped the human side of the popularity poll. The title fits that reading: "Side by Side" sounds like an update about the people you fight alongside, not just another island. Treat that as a guess until Pocketpair says more. What is confirmed is that this is the first named content update since Palworld left Early Access with 1.0 on July 10, 2026.
When Does Side by Side Release?
Pocketpair only says Winter 2026. There is no month and no day.
The last time Pocketpair shipped a big winter update gives a decent template. Feybreak was teased in November 2024, got its date at The Game Awards in December, and launched on December 23, 2024. If Side by Side follows the same rhythm, a late December drop is plausible. "Winter" can also stretch into January or February 2027, so do not plan a launch party around a date nobody has announced. We will update this post when the date lands.
Palworld Popularity Poll 2026 Results
The poll ran through September, and Pocketpair says it drew even more votes than the 2025 edition.
Pal category:
- Sekhmet
- Solenne
- Chillet
Dupin, Eidrolon, Frostallion, Jetragon, Selyne, Bellanoir Libero and Katress round out the top 10. If you want stats, work suitability or breeding info on the winners, our Paldex has pages for Sekhmet, Solenne and Chillet.
Character category:
- Zoe
- Auri
- Saya
Lily, Zenara, the Player character, the Wannabe Depresso Islander, the Black Marketeer, Victor and Bjorn complete the character top 10. The full rankings, all the way down to #288 for Pals, plus per-language breakdowns, are on the official poll site at 2026.palworld-vote.com.
What Changed Since 1.0: The Patches That Led Here
Side by Side will land on top of three post-launch patches. If your server has been running since July, these are worth knowing, because two of them touched server settings.
- v1.0.3 (August 12): lowered the Jetragon tech unlock from level 79 to 70, made World Tree Holy Water lighter and more common, doubled Fiber from trees, and added the server setting bAllowEnemyCampSpawnNearBaseCamp for admins who want enemy camps to spawn near bases again. It also fixed two dedicated server bugs: accidental Fast Travel during Tower Boss fights, and Pals visibly vibrating on client screens.
- v1.0.4 (September 7): added the sub-missions "Beyond Dimensions" and "From the Far Side of the Moon," a new World Setting for fish behavior during fishing minigames, more no-build zones (when building restrictions are on) around Suzaku and parts of Sakurajima, and a per-player building limit for server admins. It also made version mismatch errors show the version of the server you are trying to join, which is exactly the error your players will see on update day.
- v1.0.5 (September 15): fixed textures loading at low resolution and map filters switching off after respawn.
What This Means for Your Server
A major Palworld update has always meant a forced, same-day update for every dedicated server. Clients update through Steam automatically, and a server one version behind turns away every player with a version mismatch. Here is how to make the Side by Side launch painless:
- Back up the world before update day, not during it. The save lives in
Pal/Saved/SaveGames/0/. Take a full backup the evening before the patch so you are not racing your players for it. - Update the server as soon as the patch is live. Restart the server so it pulls the new build. Our guide on how to update a Palworld server covers both a DoomHosting server and a self-hosted SteamCMD install.
- Expect mods to break for a few days. Most server-side Palworld mods hook the game through UE4SS, and a major update almost always breaks those hooks until authors catch up. Disable mods before the update and re-enable them one at a time once they are confirmed working.
- Re-check PalWorldSettings.ini afterwards. New settings usually arrive with big updates, and the game rewrites the whole
OptionSettingsline when the server shuts down. Stop the server before you edit the file, or your changes are lost. The Palworld server settings generator builds a clean line if you want a fresh start. - Plan for a player spike. Content updates bring lapsed players back, and new areas mean more Pals and structures loaded at once. If your group grows, more RAM is the cheapest insurance against lag.
Our Take
Naming an update and dating it to a season, with no features attached, is a classic "keep the community warm" move after a 1.0 launch. That is fine. Feybreak got the same slow reveal and turned out to be one of Palworld's biggest updates. The interesting part is the framing: an update named after companionship, teased with the poll's three favorite characters, suggests Pocketpair is leaning into the human cast that 1.0 fleshed out. We will know more soon, and the most likely venue for a firm date is The Game Awards in December.
Host Your Palworld Server with DoomHosting
If you want a server that is ready for Side by Side the day it drops, DoomHosting's Palworld servers run on dedicated Ryzen 9 hardware with instant setup, full FTP access to your saves and config, DDoS protection and 24/7 support. Get your world set up now, and you will be exploring whatever Pocketpair has planned side by side with your friends this winter.
